Chinese men held for smuggling drugs in perfume bottles

SOLDIERS and police today (Mar. 5) arrested two Chinese men and their Thai driver at a petrol pump in Kanchanburi province just as they were getting ready to smuggle drugs hidden in luxury perfume bottles to Myanmar, Amarin TV said.

Acting on a tipoff that the two Chinese men at a petrol pump in Sangkhlaburi district looked suspicious,  Maj. Gen. Natthapong Aswinwong, commander of the 9th Infantry Division and the Surasee Command, ordered a team of soldiers to join policemen from Sangkhlaburi station and the Kanchanaburi Immigration Office to investigate.

At this petrol pump they found the a black multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) matching the description given by the informant parked. They then questioned Mr. Pittinan (surname withheld),69, the Thai driver and the two Chinese suspects, Mr. Ma Che Miao, 27, and Mr. Li Yi Tun, 30, with neither of the latter two having any identification papers or passports.

Upon searching the vehicle they found a suitcase containing the following items:

– 209 gold-coloured bottles labeled Hermès, Paris , containing Ecstasy and cocaine of unknown weight.

– 3 bags of methamphetamine, Ecstasy, morphine, Ketamine, and a purple powder, weighing approximately 1,380 grammes.

– 1 bag of Ecstasy and a green powder, weighing approximately 139.35 grammes.

– 1 bag of Ecstasy, morphine and an orange powder, weighing approximately 333.41 grammes.

– 64 bags of Ecstasy, morphine, Ketamine, methamphetamine and a substance in blue sachets.

The total value of the seized drugs is over 3 million baht.

Upon being questioned the Chinese suspects confessed to flying from China to Cambodia in July last year and last month illegally entered Thailand through a natural border crossing, as they headed to meet a Chinese friend in Myanmar.

They were instructed to pick up the drugs from Bangkok’s Huai Kwang district on March 2 with their friend’s girlfriend arranging transportation within Thailand, and they were then brought to Kanchanaburi.

Afterwards Pittinan drove them in the MPV to this petrol pump to wait for an unknown person to take them to Myanmar.

Pittinan told police he was paid 3,000 baht by an unknown Myanmar man to pick up the two Chinese suspects and drop them off at the petrol pump, where they were subsequently apprehended.

The suspects, along with the seized drugs and the vehicle used in the crime, were taken to Sangkhlaburi police station for further legal action and investigation.

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This and Front Page – The two Chinese men and their Thai driver plus the drugs they were trying to smuggle to Myanmar. Photos – Amarin TV